MILWAUKEE -- If you’ve wondered about the construction underway outside the right-field corner at American Family Field, the Brewers revealed the answer on Monday morning: They are building a premium club for the start of the 2027 season.
The Truss Club, named for the supports of the stadium’s signature roof and built from green-tinted brick to match, will be a high-end, all-inclusive gathering space for season seatholders in the 375 most desirable seats in the ballpark. They will fill the six rows behind home plate, including one new row of seats to be added on what is now the warning track.
In terms of scale, the joint project between the Brewers and the state-controlled Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District is the most significant fan-facing change to the ballpark since it opened as Miller Park in 2001, and it will mean the first physical change to the field dimensions since the Brewers moved in the right-field fence to build a group party area in 2006.
“We are endlessly focused on ensuring that the ballpark remains first in class,” said Brewers chief operating officer Marti Wronski. “Not just in terms of being clean and maintained, but in terms of the fan amenities and the experiences for all fans here at the ballpark.”
So, what is it?
It’s two related projects, actually.
Inside the ballpark, the Brewers will install padded, 23- or 24-inch seats from dugout to dugout in the first six rows -- making them the widest seats in the ballpark. If you have a ticket for one of those seats, you also get access to the other new space, the Truss Club, a 20,000-square-foot building already under construction on the southwest side of American Family Field. When finished, it will open onto the field level concourse of the ballpark.
Pricing starts at $245 per game, inclusive of everything: a ticket, parking and food and beverage, both inside the club and at the seat. There are no membership or initiation fees, but those tickets are only available as part of half-season and full-season ticket packages.
On a gameday, the club will open 30 minutes before other stadium gates, offering a different level of all-inclusive than the Brewers have ever had before. Here’s some of what they have planned:
- The club is designed around a central gathering space with a long bar and two levels of dining areas that open to two outdoor decks, one covered and one uncovered.
- Upgraded, scratch-made cuisine from a dedicated chef, with specialities that change from game to game, but also includes ballpark staples nightly. There will be occasional guest chefs and specialty food carts. There’s even a sommelier.
- Valet parking, a dedicated parking lot, private security screening, private lockers for bag storage, private restrooms and a meeting room available for rent.
“We did a lot of traveling around to other ballparks, really doing the ‘yes, no, yes, no,’ kind of thing,” Wronski said.
Why now?
In the 25 years since the stadium turnstiles started spinning, the Brewers and the stadium district have kept the building fresh with continuous changes and additions, from group entertainment spaces throughout the building, two scoreboard replacements, a massive concessions overhaul in 2017, the addition of the 3rd Street Market Hall Annex in 2024 and the Food Truck Alley in ‘25, along with attractions from the rock climbing wall that used to soar above right field to the Selig Experience in left.
But what the stadium always has lacked is a premium area tied to the seats behind home plate, and that made the Brewers an outlier. The only other MLB team without one is the A’s, and that will change when their new ballpark opens in Las Vegas in 2028.
This is the type of project that Wisconsin legislators had in mind in 2023 when they passed a stadium funding bill to coincide with an extension of the Brewers’ lease at American Family Field through at least 2050. The bill was signed into law by Governor Tony Evers in December 2023.
“It’s a product of a ton of research, surveys, telephone conversations and [in-person] conversations with our fans here,” Wronski said. “One message was really, really clear: Fans have increased expectations for their gameday experience.”
Will it impact game play?
Maybe, but rarely. When the Brewers moved in the right-field fence in 2006 to construct a party area on what originally was the right-field warning track, they did a study to determine how many fly balls in play would turn into home runs. A homer does land in that area from time to time, including in the Brewers’ last home game when Jackson Chourio hit a two-run shot against the Giants on Thursday that bounced off the top of the wall and over.
For this project, the Brewers did another study to determine how many popups would fall into the new first row behind the netting for a foul ball, instead of settling into a catcher’s glove for an out. Because foul ground will shrink by only 3-4 feet from dugout to dugout, the number was small.
“There was plenty of room to spare when we talked to the league,” Wronski said. “We had to talk to the league to do this, and we studied, and talked to our baseball folks and all of those things well in advance of being able to do this. It’s funny, because it almost looks like they were going to put another row in and didn’t.”
What about the fans who are in those seats now?
All but a literal handful of the seats in the five current rows that will be replaced are controlled by season seatholders. Where will they go?
The Brewers have scheduled meetings with all of them this week to determine if they would like to become members of the Truss Club or be moved elsewhere in the ballpark. Those fans will have several weeks to make a decision, after which the Brewers will begin extending the offer to other season seatholders, corporate partners and so on.
“A question that comes up all the time is, ‘How are you going to do this? It’s not like you’re creating an entirely new space,’” Wronski said. “We’re going to do it very carefully and in a very special way. We think we have an offering here that will be very interesting and very exciting to fans across the board.”
Why is the Truss Club outside the stadium instead of underneath?
“We evaluated a few different options, and most of them are below the seats because the proximity to the seats is really nice,” said Mark Schlifske, the Brewers’ vice president of business strategy and analytics. “But if you’ve ever been in any of those clubs, most of them are dark, and they don’t really celebrate summers in Wisconsin. If there’s an opportunity to have this out on the plaza, I think we’re going to be one of the only teams in MLB that has these outdoor patios. … The walk to the seats is about 60 seconds, so we’re OK sacrificing a little bit of a walk for the outdoor spaces we’ll have.”
If I’m not in position to invest in season tickets, what about me?
On the opposite side of the stadium, the Brewers are working on a project open to everyone. On the outside plaza stretching from the left-field corner to right, the UW Credit Union Plaza is set to open by the end of this month. It includes a performance stage and bier garten near the bridge that feeds fans from the parking lots to the ballpark, a kids play area and a mini golf course.
In addition to that, the Brewers are also building a permanent, multilevel food and beverage complex on that part of the plaza that will open in ‘27.
Think of it, Brewers officials say, as a tailgating space for fans who don’t want to go through the hassle of packing a cooler and grill. Like the Truss Club, the idea is to have the space available for rent on non-gamedays.
“It’s part of our effort to keep the ballpark modern,” Wronski said. “Continue to compete and continue to be first in class.”